Foreigners In China

(My dream journal of 18 December 2004)

In a populated place, I see a few foreigners. They are all large and overweight. These men and women look like blue collar workers - not like most foreigners in China, who are sophisticated business people, students, scholars or travellers.

I see a young, thin, small Chinese lady. After talking to her, I find out that she is an interpreter for those foreigners. She tells me that these foreigners work for a local shipping company. They are all labourers. Since the shipping company handles large goods which are normally heavy, the company recruits large foreigners who are physically more capable for the job. She also tells me that this is a new trend in China - recruiting foreigners as labour workers. The world is changing. We no longer solely need foreign intellectual workers.

Her job at the moment is to meet a new foreigner who has just arrived and help him to settle. The new comer is a large, bold, forty something wearing an old wrinkly black T-shirt and shorts. She has arranged for a taxi to take him to the village where he is going to live.

At the reception of the company’s apartment, she is surprised to be told that there is no accommodation arrangement for the new comer. She talks to a person who appears a local senior management person about helping out this new comer. He says he owns two apartments - one with one bedroom and one with two bedrooms. However, if he lets this new comer stay in his place, he might get himself in trouble. According to the local law, one cannot offer accommodation to a foreigner without informing the local authority. He regrets not being able to help and blames the complicated communist law.

When she returns to the taxi, she is surprised that the taxi driver charges her ¥200. She thinks that the taxi driver could have turned the engine off so the meter would snooze during his waiting for her to sort out things for the foreigner at the village which takes a few hours rather than charging her for the waiting. The waiting costs more than the mileage.

………………………

My husband and I come to the village. We think we might find some fun and things to do, since we understand it’s a village with a lot of foreigners. To our disappointment this village is far from modern and clean and the residents are not the kind of people we feel comfortable socialising with. There is an entertainment room for the foreign residents where they can chat, watch TV, or singing Karaoke, but it is far too shabby. We decide to leave.

There is a foreign woman just returning to the village. She appears drunk or sick. She stumbles and tries to get hold of a tree. We think she’s going to vomit. When she is a little better, she regroups herself and walks away.

……………

We are still in the village. My husband enters a building to sort something and I am waiting at the entrance. I get bored waiting in the same spot and wander around but not too far away from where I was. I wait for a long time until the day is almost over and few people are left in the building. I gather that my husband must have finished his business and since he didn’t see me at the entrance, he left without me.

I am angry with him. He should have looked for me. He should have known that I’ve been waiting for him. He shouldn’t have taken off without checking thoroughly.

……. ………….

My husband and I are on a ferry. I am so tired and desperately wanting to get some sleep. I lean to him and he holds me. Very understandingly, he says to me: Go to sleep, baby! I’ll hold you.